Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone joined Fire Island business leaders in Ocean Beach on Friday, May 10, 2013.

Rachel’s Waterside Grill on Freeport’s famed Nautical Mile celebrated its grand reopening about six months after Superstorm Sandy swamped the popular eatery. CJ’s Bar and Grill, one of the best known pubs in downtown Ocean Beach on Fire Island, has meanwhile been rushing to open its doors by Memorial Day weekend.

Both restaurants’ owners joined public officials in recent news conferences declaring that the waterfront tourist destinations they call home are back in business—although reconstruction may not be complete until closer to the unofficial start of summer in cases such as CJ’s. The comeback is the latest sign LI is not giving up after the catastrophe.

“It was hectic, and crazy, and busy, and fun,” Ivan Sayles, owner of Rachel’s Waterside Grill, optimistically told the Press while describing the April 26 grand reopening as an adventure. “It is like opening a brand new place. Business was phenomenal.”

Restaurants re-opening in hard-hit areas include Fatfish Wine & Bar Bistro in Bay Shore, Captain Bill’s Restaurant and Catering also in Bay Shore, View Restaurant in Oakdale, E B Elliot’s Restaurant in Freeport and in Long Beach: The Cabana; West End Pizza; East End Pizza; and Whale’s Tale, according to the Long Island Restaurant Association.

In the days and weeks after Sandy, it wasn’t clear how many local businesses that lost inventory and equipment to flooding would reopen. Nearly seven months later, the discouraging sight of debris has been replaced with ‘open’ signs on business doors.

“It has been inspiring to walk these streets where flood waters would have been at our waist six months ago,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said at a May 10 news conference in Ocean Beach. “All of these business opening and ready for the tourism season is nothing short of a miracle.”

Relief can be detected in the voice of the several business owners who have recently reopened their stores.

“There was three feet of water in this building,” said Chris Mercogliano, who owns CJ’s, the 40-year-old bar that was initially believed to be gone forever after Sandy. “We had to completely gut it; all new electric, all new plumbing. It was basically a brand new place. There’s not much left of the old place now.”

He and several other FI business and civic leaders launched the Revive Fire Island campaign to raise money and awareness of the barrier island’s comeback.

“It’s been a long, hard struggle, but as you can see we’re open for business,” said Ocean Beach Mayor James Mallott, who owns The Albatross bar. “We want everyone to know that we are here.”

Back in Freeport, where the local chamber of commerce told reporters that some Nautical Mile establishments will not return this season, the optimism was tinged with harsh realities.

The future of Rachel’s Waterside Grill became dimmer after the storm when government aid was not provided for the desolated business. But a $50,000 grant from National Grid provided well needed help to get the restaurant back on its feet, said Sayles.

Peter’s Clam Bar on Long Beach Road is among the local shops mounting a comeback after Sandy assaulted the eatery. Dominick DeSimone, the bar’s co-owner, describes the months after the hurricane as agonizing.

“[The work has been] very heart breaking,” he said, noting that they reopened despite renovations being one third completed. “We’re waiting for some aid, but there’s no aid at this point.”

Kurt Smith, owner of Flair House clothing store in Ocean Beach, said Sandy forced him to leave his winter job to oversee the rebuilding of his boutique.

“I was pretty much here all winter,” he said. “Seven days a week since February; just making sure that the finished work was done and get everything opened up close to on time. I opened up a week later than I usually do.”

Smith, like other small business owners who rely on a short window of warm weather on LI to draw customers, is banking on patrons returning from bygone seasons.

“Hopefully people will come back to and enjoy the Island again,” he said. “Probably my favorite thing to see is when people come here and they find out what it is and then they fall in love with it for the first time. It’s kind of like a tag line; once you come here you pretty much never leave.”

The entrance of the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant on Tuesday, May 14, 2013.

Nassau County officials took nearly 100 residents on a tour Tuesday of the embattled Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant to explain why such a stench is emanating from temporary post-Superstorm Sandy repairs.

Officials said they’ve gotten a head start on their plans for a $1.2 billion project to upgrade the plant and harden it against for future storms—nearly half of which would fund extending the outflow pipe from Reynolds Channel into the Atlantic Ocean. But a completion date won’t be clear until New York State and federal funds start flowing.

“Clearly, the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant has not been a good neighbor,” County Executive Ed Mangano told reporters and residents during a news conference at the facility. “Although operating, it is fragile.”

The apology tour came less than a week after the plant spilled 3 million gallons of partially treated sewage into the waterway—a spill the county blamed on a power outage at the plant—and two weeks after an environmental watchdog ranked Bay Park’s more than 2 billion gallons of Sandy spill the worst in New York State.

Parts of the Bay Park facility had been flooded with more than 9 feet of saltwater in the storm surge. The plant is still running on backup generators more than six months after its four engines were knocked out in the Oct. 29 storm. Temporary digester tanks that have been contributing to worse-than-usual smells in the area are scheduled to be moved.

“I’m hearing a lot of crap,” said Cynthia O’Rourke, a makeup artist and mother of two who took the tour with her 2-year-old daughter to find out why they still can’t return home since her family’s Oceanside home was flooded with sewage in Sandy. “Nobody’s taking responsibility for 20 years of mismanagement.”

The rickety state of Bay Park and its sister plant, Cedar Creek, had been the subject of a Press investigative series. The county later committed millions to repair the plant before Sandy hit and knocked it offline for more than a month, causing pipes to burst and sewage to flood some homes before pressure could be released on the plant.

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to help get Nassau its sewage plant repair funds.

“This is a basic human necessity; this is not a luxury item,” she said. “Societies have lived and died based on their sewage systems.”

Assemb. Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) echoed concerns that the sewage spills into Reynolds Channel impacts fishing, swimming, the air and groundwater.

“There was no containing anything that was coming out of here,” he said of the Bay Park’s failure during Sandy. “This is an emergency situation that has to be addressed.”

The events range from fundraisers for Superstorm Sandy survivors and family events for the kids to local bars and restaurants offering specials on burritos, margaritas and Coronas—so break out that souvenir sombrero from Cancun.

But, before leaving the house in a poncho, here’s a quick North American history refresher lesson:  Cinco de Mayo is not—like some people mistakenly believe—Mexican Independence Day, which is Sept.16.

The holiday commemorates the Battle of Puebla, when Mexican forces turned back invading French troops in 1862—a symbol of resiliency for the world’s most populous Spanish-speaking nation.

And for those who still remember their high school Spanish 101, here’s a potentially useful bonus factoid—a Mexican saying that may come in handy on the Long Island Rail Road this weekend: “A boca de borracho, oídos de cantinero.”

It translates to “the mouth of drunk, ears of barman.” It basically means ignore the loud drunks.

Saturday
10 a.m.-5 p.m., Cinco de Mayo Dive Meet, Nassau County Aquatic Center, Eisenhower Park, East Meadow, 516-572-0501.

2-4 p.m., Cinco de Mayo at the Long Island Children’s Museum, 11 Davis Ave., Garden City, 516-224-5800.

Cinco de Mayo Kickoff Party, Napper Tandy’s Irish Pub, 275 Rte 25A, Miller Place, 631-331-5454. $4 Coronas and margaritas.

May 4-5: Cinco de Mayo Weekend at The Nutty Irishman. 323 Main St. Farmingdale. 516-293-9700. $4 Coronas, 8-10 p.m.

Sunday
11 a.m.-2 p.m., Cinco de Mayo Festival at the Garden of Eve Organic Farm & Market. 4558 Sound Ave, Aquebogue, 631-523-6608

11 a.m.-2 p.m., Cinco de Mayo at the Long Island Game Farm Wildlife Park. 638 Chapman Blvd, Manorville, 631-878-6644. www.longislandgamefarm.com

12-2:30 p.m. or 3-5:30 p.m., Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Kid’s Fun Skate. United Skates of America, 1276 Hicksville Rd. Seaford, 516-795-5474.

2 p.m., Cinco de Mayo: Serenata Mexicana. The Suffolk Theater, 118 E. Main St. Riverhead, 631- 727-4343. $35.

2-3 p.m., Latin Music. Long Island Museum of American Art, History and Carriages, 1200 Route 25A  Stony Brook, 631-751-0066

2-5 p.m., Mambo Loco at Martha Clara Vineyards. 6025 Sound Ave. Riverhead, 631-298-0075

3-8 p.m., Cinco de Mayo Party, Sandy survivor fundraiser, Knights of Columbus, 2333 Bellmore Ave., Bellmore, 516-785-9407. $40.

3-9 p.m., Cinco de Mayo at Pefecto Mundo Latin Bistro. 1141-1 Jericho Turnpike, Commack, 631-864-2777.

10 p.m.-12 a.m., Cinco de Mayo at Lily Flanagan’s Pub. 345 Deer Park Ave., Babylon, 631-539-0816

Cinco de Mayo Party at Dublin Deck. 325 River Ave, Patchogue, 631-207-0370.

Cinco de Moe’s at Moe’s Southwest Grill, multiple locations. Homewrecker burrito, chips and salsa for $5 and bobblehead Cinco de Moe’s collector’s cups.

Margaritas and Fajitas at Cozymel’s Mexican Grill, 1177 Corporate Dr., Westbury.11 a.m.-12 a.m.

Buy two tacos get one free at Chico’s Tex-Mex Restaurant, 18 Berryhill Rd., Syosset, 516-802-3500. 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

$2 tacos, $5 nacho platters, $3 beers and $4 margaritas and sangrias at Swell Taco, 135 Deer Park Ave., Babylon, 631-482-1299. 12-4 p.m.

$5 margaritas, $3 beers, free giveaways, Don Juan’s, multiple locations.

-Compiled by Danny Mounce

One overflow location from the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant was adjacent to the Western Long Island South Shore Estuary. (Credit: Doug Kuntz)

The Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant spill after Superstorm Sandy ranked the worst sewage overflow in New York State and the second worst in the Northeast, according to a new environmental report.

An estimated 2.2 billion gallons of partially treated sewage flowed into Rockaway Channel between when the plant failed the day of the Oct. 29 storm and Dec. 21 when the plant become fully operational again 44 days later, according to Climate Central, a New Jersey-based nonprofit research group. They estimated another 104 million gallons of raw sewage was sent into the bay from the beleaguered plant that was ranked the worst on Long Island two years ago.

“Tidal flooding in Bay Park was so severe that plant operators were unable to give us their estimate of the overflow volume,” wrote the report’s authors, whose estimates were “based on daily average flows through the plant.”

Bay Park, which treats sewage from about 40 percent of Nassau County, was ranked second to the Passaic Valley Sewage Commission in Newark that released 840 million gallons of raw sewage into Newark Bay in the week following Sandy and another three billion gallons of partially treated sewage through Nov. 16.

The study found that a total of 11 billion gallons of raw and partially treated sewage flowed into waterways—and in parts of southwestern Nassau, streets and homes—in the eight hardest-hit states. That’s more than 50 times the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Rounding out the top-five worst Sandy sewage spills was the Yonkers Joint Wastewater Treatment Plant, the Middlesex County Sewage Authority in Sayersville, NJ and the O Street Combined Sewer Overflow in Washington, D.C.

New York and New Jersey suffered the overwhelming majority of the sewage spillage—a combined 94 percent—with the Empire State slightly edging out the Garden State for the largest estimated spill volume with 5.2 billion gallons, the report found.

Nine of New York City’s 14 sewage treatment plants spilled a combined total of 1.6 billion gallons, ranking second in the state to Bay Park.

Nassau County officials have said they plan to use Sandy aid to prepare the Bay Park plant for future storms, which is in line with recommendations in the report. Last week, the plant earned the American Council of Engineering Companies’ Diamond Award for its de-chlorination facility.

“We were really surprised to find is just how vulnerable this entire system is to floods, storms and ultimately to climate change,” Alyson Kenward, the scientist who authored the report, told reporters on a conference call Tuesday.

“Researchers are predicting at least two feet of sea-level rise by the end of this century, which will makes these storm even more dangerous than they already are,” she said. “And with so much of our sewage systems sitting in low-lying areas near the coast, they are really susceptible. “

Sandy damaged houses across Long Island, such as this one in Atlantique on Fire Island.

Superstorm Sandy went down in history six months ago as one of the biggest natural disasters to hit Long Island, irreversibly changing its landscape and washing away many residents’ sense of security.

While the widespread blackouts, lengthy gas-shortage lines, catastrophic flooding and mountainous debris piles are mostly just a memory, recovery efforts are still most visible on LI’s Atlantic Ocean-facing barrier beaches that suffered the worst damage.

“Sandy to some people is gone, it’s passed,” said James Mallot, the mayor of Ocean Beach, Fire Island’s unofficial capital. “We live it out there every single minute of the day.”

The village, like the rest of LI’s Sandy-ravaged beachfront communities, is rushing to prepare for Memorial Day weekend, the kickoff to the summer beach and tourist season that pumps billions into the local economy.

Meanwhile, a breach that Sandy caused in Fire Island’s federal wilderness area to the east of the residential communities remains open, which has become a point of contention between those who blame the breach on flooding in communities near the Great South Bay and others who argue it’s cleaning out the polluted waterways.

The storm, a massive hybrid of a category 1 hurricane that merged with a nor’easter, is considered the worst to hit the region since the infamous “Long Island Express” in 1938.

Looking to Katrina for Perspective on Sandy Recovery Timeline

In the City of Long Beach on LI’s westernmost barrier island, officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Saturday to commemorate construction of the new boardwalk to replace the old one that Sandy destroyed—although the Long Beach Medical Center is still closed.

“We came together months ago to mourn the loss of our boardwalk,” Scott Mandel, president of the Long Beach City council, told hundreds of residents who gathered for the event. “Today we come together to celebrate the rebirth of it. Long Beach is coming back better than ever.”

A five-mile stretch of badly damaged Ocean Parkway on Jones Beach Island just reopened last week after contractors rebuilt the roadway’s protective dunes that were washed away. Parts of Jones Beach itself are already reopened, but Robert Moses State Park is still closed.

And in the Hamptons, some millionaires have sparked controversy by building seawalls—work that may be challenged in court—in the hopes of protecting their oceanfront mansions, The New York Times recently reported.

Signs of a comeback can be found on mainland LI as well. Camp Bulldog, a makeshift support network in Lindenhurst that was a lifeline for residents coping in Sandy’s aftermath, closed over the weekend. On the North Shore, the West Shore Road seawall is nearing completion. And East Rockaway Junior-High School reopened Monday just in time to mark the six-month mark of the Oct. 29 storm.

Also on Monday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reported that its four remaining disaster recovery centers in Long Beach, Island Park, Seaford and Copiague will become Disaster Loan Outreach Centers on Wednesday, indicating another milestone in the recovery process.

“New York has made tremendous progress in the six months since Sandy,” said Michael F. Byrne, FEMA’s federal coordinating officer for Hurricane Sandy operations. “But the work is not done.”

Nassau lawmakers are concerned about contracts for Sandy recovery work, such as the repairs to the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant and surrounding area that caused this truck to fall into an East Rockaway sinkhole last fall.

Members of a key Nassau County committee debated Monday whether to approve seven-figure contracts to companies hired for Sandy recovery following reports that some are subject to audits and criminal investigation.

Democratic lawmakers accused the legislature’s Republican leadership of rushing to approve funds to firms under scrutiny and refusing their request to have County Comptroller George Maragos answer questions from the Rules Committee regarding his probe.

“I’m just wondering if we’re doing the proper investigatory work on our end before we vote yes or no,” Legis. Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) said while joining calls that Maragos clarify the issue before the vote.

“Until [Maragos] completes his audit and review, we thought that it would be premature for us to consider bringing him before us,” said Presiding Officer Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow).

The more than $1 million contract that sparked the debate was to pay Manhattan-based Hazen Sawyer Engineering, one of a dozen firms being audited, for coordinating storm-damage repair work through the end of March. The contract was later approved along party lines.

Lawmakers also expressed concern with a recent Newsday report citing anonymous sources saying that District Attorney Kathleen Rice’s office is investigating whether Huntington-based Looks Great Services Inc. properly paid workers it hired for the county’s Sandy cleanup. A spokesman for Rice was not available for comment.

“The comptroller’s office has sent letters to 12 of the largest contractors requesting information on any sub-contractors employed in the course of county work during and post-Superstorm Sandy, including amounts paid to these subcontractors,” Jostyn Hernandez, a spokesman for Maragos, told the Press. “The comptroller has invited all the legislators to personally review Superstorm Sandy-related claims.”

Balking at that suggestion was Legis. Wayne Wink (D-Roslyn), who’s running against former comptroller Howard Weitzman for the Democratic Party line to challenge Maragos, a Republican, in the November elections.

“It’s the difference between having up to 19 private meetings with each and every legislator and one public meeting,” Wink said. “What can be said behind closed doors can be said right here on the record.”

Field audits of Nassau’s contracts are common in cases that involve outside funding—in this case, federal Sandy aid—according to Ken Arnold, deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Works, which he said assists in providing documents.

Advocates also spoke out against approving the contracts without more input from Maragos. They included leaders of nonprofits Long Island Jobs with Justice and the Park Advocacy and Recreation Council of Nassau.

Legis. Richard Nicolello (R-New Hyde Park) said not approving the contracts would slow the county’s Sandy repairs. “The Sandy recovery effort has to go forward, you can’t stop these contracts,” he said.

During a separate committee meeting later Monday, Legis. Dave Denenberg (D-Merrick) called on GOP legislative leaders to hold hearings on the Sandy contracts, saying, “We want to make sure the work that we’ve approved is being done.”

-With Spencer Rumsey

A before and after of one family’s Sandy flooded photo.

While many Long Islanders are still rebuilding after Sandy, some of the superstorm’s survivors are getting some extra help repairing their most cherished possessions—photographs of loved ones and friends damaged in the historic floodwaters.

CARE for Sandy, short for “Cherished Albums Restoration Effort,” is a grassroots Brooklyn-based volunteer organization comprised of professional photographers and amateurs with creative backgrounds, who retouch and digitally restore photographs damaged during the superstorm.

“Our standards are very high…it’s very important that every photograph retain the character and integrity of the original,” said Lee Kelly, who founded the group shortly after the Oct. 29 storm. “I’m treating each and every [photo] as if it’s the only one that that family has; they’re all incredibly precious.”

The group will be hosting a free event from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at Nassau Community College in Building G, where families who wish to have their photos scanned and later restored.

Each family can submit up to 50 damaged photographs, which are digitally scanned and later uploaded online and put up for “adoption,” process that calls for volunteers to “adopt” a photo based on their skill level and completely restore it within a three-month window.

At NCC, students with backgrounds in photography and graphic design will help with scanning and retouching photos. About a dozen students from Studio Photography class will be on site to take family portraits of those guests who attend, while they wait for their photographs to be scanned, labeled and backed up.

“I am thrilled that the Art Department’s students, faculty and staff are teaming up with CARE for Sandy in providing this critical first step to helping families get their precious photos restored,” said NCC Photography Professor Carolyn Monastra. “It’s also a wonderful opportunity for our students to gain professional experience while giving back to the community.”

One of the many families burdened by Sandy were the Fabianos, Oceanside residents who had the basement of their home submerged under floodwater with damage done to their hot water heater, gas burner, washing machine and much of their personal property—including the couple’s wedding album, which Al Fabiano said was spotted dripping wet.

“I brought the album upstairs and saw the look on my wife’s face,” said Fabiano. “It broke my heart to see the tears well up in here eyes.”

Fabiano read an article written about CARE for Sandy, detailing how the group could restore water-damaged photos. After reaching out to them through their website, Fabiano spoke to a representative that told him their was hope in restoring his photos, eventually he was contacted by Kelly.

“The Fabiano family is very fortunate as they’ve had all [of their] 24 images ‘adopted’,” said Kelly, whose volunteers come from far and wide. “And have received 17 restorations [from] volunteers from Texas, Oregon, Illinois, New York and the Netherlands.”

For families like the Fabianos whose photographs were all but lost in the storm, there’s still hope to reclaim some of those old memories.

“Lee was an angel sent from heaven,” said Fabiano. “Her organization, CARE, are a dedicated group of people who want to help their fellow man by bringing their expertise in photography to restore what would be lost pictures of loved ones.”

Scraps of the destroyed Long Beach boardwalk will become art work.

Eight hundred pounds of Long Beach boardwalk ruble is being re-purposed as artwork to commemorate the community spirit that prevailed after Superstorm Sandy destroyed the famed seaside tourist attraction.

Nassau County officials invited local artists to join a privately funded contest with cash prizes up to $10,000 for the winner and judges deciding which work best captures the theme in six months—timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the historic storm.

“Every crisis, every storm and every natural disaster provides all of us with the ability to call upon our inner strength to begin the job of recovery,” Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano said during a news conference Thursday at his Mineola office.

Second place wins $5,000, third place takes home $2,500 and honorable mentions will get $1,000 each. The prizes are funded by Lawrence Kadish, a Republican national committeeman from Old Westbury, and his wife, Susan, an artist.

The competition is open to Nassau residents of all ages. The deadline for submitted art work is Sept. 1 and the winners will be chosen on Oct. 29. All accepted submissions will be displayed at the Office of Emergency Management for approximately six months.

For more information on rules and submission forums visit the county’s website www.nassaucounty.gov or call 516-571-6000.

Residents in Nassau, Suffolk and the 11 other disaster-declared counties can apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance through April 13 instead of the previous deadline of March 29—the five-month anniversary of the storm.

“This extension from FEMA will provide impacted residents with more time to get help so they can rebuild as soon as possible,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

The 14-day extension covers both individuals and businesses who haven’t yet applied to the Small Business Administration for lowered-interest loans.

The aid can fund rental assistance, essential home repairs, personal property losses and other serious disaster-related needs not covered by insurance.

Applicants can register online at www.disasterassistance.gov via smartphone or tablet at m.fema.gov or call 800-621-3362 from 7 – 1 a.m., seven days a week.

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano gave his fourth State of the County address at the Morrelly Homeland Security Center in Bethpage on Wednesday, March 6, 2013.

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano proposed a new, smaller arena to replace the aging coliseum, urged Democratic critics to help him close perpetual budget gaps and ticked off a list of past initiatives in his fourth State of the County address Wednesday.

After recovering from a teleprompter glitch during his opening remarks, the first-term Republican seeking re-election this fall launched into what at times felt like a stump speech—although he also struck some downer notes while mentioning Superstorm Sandy, the loss of the New York Islanders and the recent deaths of two Nassau cops and a top Nassau GOP lawmaker.

“Nassau County had the distinction of being the highest property taxed County in the nation; that is no longer true,” Mangano told the crowd assembled at the Morrelly Homeland Security Center in his hometown of Bethpage. “While we still have much work to do, we’re headed in the right direction.”

His address comes as federal Sandy recovery aid has begun trickling into the region, while The Amazing Spiderman 2—the largest film shot in New York State—is now in production at a nearby sound stage and after a federal judge recently ruled against a 2011 county employee wage freeze.

He also reminded the audience that he has frozen property taxes, cut the county workforce and privatized county services such as the bus system and inmate health care at Nassau County jail in his quest to close budget deficits. The Nassau Interim Finance Authority, a state-appointed fiscal watchdog, took control of county finances a year after Mangano took office.

Legis. Kevan Abrahams (D-Hempstead), the leader of the county’s Democratic legislative minority, criticized Mangano for his ongoing plan to close half of the eight police precincts—one cost-saving measure the county exec didn’t mention—and for a recent credit downgrade.

“It seems as though Nassau County has hit rock bottom,” Abrahams said, although he did endorse the new arena idea. “How much are we really saving and is it really worth it?”

Tom Suozzi, the ex-Nassau County executive seeking the Democratic line for a rematch against Mangano—who unseated Suozzi in 2009—released a statement critical of Mangano before the address.

“Under Ed Mangano, Nassau County has been mired in reckless mismanagement and constant fiscal crisis,” Suozzi said. “Furthermore, Mangano has presented no vision for our future and continues to rely on borrowing to the detriment of future generations.”

Suozzi’s Democratic primary opponent, millionaire Adam Haber of Roslyn, also took a swipe at the county executive, accusing him of “speaking out of both sides of his mouth. Mangano said that taxes have not gone up, but Nassau’s middle class families know that they are being squeezed by paying more fees, while government services are getting cut.”

In his defense, Mangano repeatedly referenced a $3 billion deficit he inherited from Suozzi, half of it from funds borrowed to pay property tax challenges in a grievance system Mangano has tried to overhaul. He also called on Democrats to provide the three votes needed to approve borrowing to pay more property tax settlements—something Democrats vowed not to do in the run-up to the recent legislative redistricting.

“We have truly reinvented and are rebuilding a stronger, better and brighter Nassau County,” Mangano said. “That is why we must never return to our past practices.”